|
Believe me, any hosing or sweeping of any
deck particles ( small amounts of spilled during loading or
unloading of the vessel) is noted in the vessels log as to the location, time,
and amount of cargo ( in pounds as it is less than a ton) put over the deck
into the water. There is many forbiden areas and distances from shore
or water intakes that these sweepings are allowed to be put in the water. These
areas are also determined by the type of cargo that may or may not be be
put in the lakes. I lived all my life on the
lakes and make my livelyhood on these lake vessels. I am very
protective of the jewel of our earth. These laws must be strickly adhered
to or I would be subject to fines and jail time not to mention losing
my job by not following these cargo residue sweepings guidelines. Our
company bosses are very concerned that if we fail to follow these
guidelines, it would be the end of my lively hoods and the bulk shipping
industry! So now we put tens of thousands of trucks on the roads
to haul this non toxic materials. More fossil fuel consumes and exhaust in
the air. Pick your poison.
I have only touched the surface on this very
subject. But this dialog is good.
Russ Brohl
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 3:21
PM
Subject: RE: GLIN==> Dry cargo
discharges to the Great Lakes
As the saying goes
a little added to a little makes a lot. I've not spent any time with the
report in many years but do recall that particle accumulation occurs
to the point of noticeable depth changes in and
around shipping lanes, detectable by
sonar.
Regards,
Mark
Coscarelli
For additional background
see the following 1999 NOAA publication. . . .
NOAA Technical
Memorandum ERL GLERL-114
"Proceedings of the Workshop The Environmental
Implications of Cargo Sweeping in the Great Lakes"
which can be
downloaded by pasting the following into your web browser:
ftp://ftp.glerl.noaa.gov/publications/tech_reports/glerl-114/tm-114.pdf
Dave
Reid
Steven Pollack wrote:
Does this seem bad to anyone else? Sweeping salt, cement, and
iron ore into the lake? I plan to comment on this.
Steven
"The historical practice of bulk dry cargo vessels on the Great
Lakes is to wash non-hazardous and non-toxic cargo residues (``dry
cargo residue'' or ``cargo sweepings'') overboard. These non-hazardous
non-toxic discharges eliminate unsafe conditions onboard the vessel,
without requiring alternatives that could involve time delays or added
cost. Current environmental statutes, if strictly enforced, would
prohibit these incidental discharges.
However, under an ``interim enforcement policy'' (IEP) first
adopted by the Coast Guard's Ninth District in 1993, incidental
discharges of dry cargo residue are permitted in defined portions of
the Great Lakes. Congress has authorized continuation of the IEP until
Septembe r 30, 2008, unless the Coast Guard acts sooner to replace the
IEP with new regulations. Dry cargo residue on the Great Lakes
generally includes, but is not limited to, limestone and other clean
stone, iron ore such as taconite, coal and salt, and
cement." "Alex J. Sagady & Associates" <ajs@sagady.com>
wrote: Coast
Guard EIS on discharge of "dry cargo residue" from
freighters to the
Great Lakes.....
[Federal Register: March 9, 2006 (Volume 71,
Number 46)]
[Notices]
[Page 12209-12211]
From the Federal
Register Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr09mr06-89]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT
OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Coast Guard
[USCG-2004-19621]
Dry
Cargo Residue Discharges in the Great Lakes; Preparation of
Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Coast Guard,
DHS.
ACTION: Notice of intent; notice of availability; request for
comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY:
The Coast Guard announces its intent to prepare an
environmental
impact statement (EIS) in connection with the development
of
proposed new regulations on the incidental discharge of dry cargo
residue in the Great Lakes. Publication of this notice begins a
public
scoping process that will help determine the scope of issues
to be
addressed in the EIS and identify the significant
environmental issues
related to this EIS (40 CFR 1506.6). This
notice also solicits public
participation in the scoping process,
and announces the availability of
a study on current dry cargo
residue discharge practices in the Great
Lakes.
DATES:
Comments and related materi al must reach the Docket Management
Facility on or before July 31, 2006.
ADDRESSES: You may
submit comments identified by Coast Guard docket
number
USCG-2004-19621 to the Docket Management Facility at the U.S.
Department of Transportation.
[[Page 12210]]
Address
docket submissions for USCG-2004-19621 to: Docket
Management
Facility, U.S. Department of Transportation, 400 Seventh
Street SW.,
Washington, DC 20590-0001.
The Docket Management Facility accepts
hand-delivered submissions,
and makes docket contents available for
public inspection and copying
at this address, in room PL-401,
between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday
through Friday, except Federal
holidays. The Facility's telephone is
202-366-9329, its fax is
202-493-2251, and its Web site for electronic
submissions or for
electronic access to docket contents is
http://dms.dot.gov.
FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions regarding this
notice, contact LCDR Mary Sohlberg, U.S. Coast Guard, fax
202-267-4690
or e-mail msohlberg@comdt.uscg.mil. If
you have questions on viewing or
submitting material to the docket,
call Renee V. Wright, Program
Manager, Docket Operations, telephone
202-493-0402.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Request for
Comments
We request public comments or other relevant information
on
environmental issues related to all aspects of incidental dry
cargo
residue discharges on the Great Lakes. You can submit comments
to the
Docket Management Facility during the public comment period
(see
DATES). We will consider all comments and material received
during the
comment period.
Submissions should include:
?
Docket number USCG-2004-19621.
? Your name and address.
? Your
reasons for making each comment or for bringing
information to our
attention.
Submit commen ts or material using only one of the
following methods:
? Electronic submission to DMS, http://dms.dot.gov.
? Fax, mail, or
hand delivery to the Docket Management
Facility (see ADDRESSES).
Faxed or hand delivered submissions must be
unbound, no larger than
8\1/2\ by 11 inches, and suitable for copying
and electronic
scanning. If you mail your submission and want to know
when it
reaches the Facility, include a stamped, self-addressed
postcard or
envelope.
Regardless of the method used for submitting comments or
material,
all submissions will be posted, without change, to the DMS
Web site
(http://dms.dot.gov), and
will include any personal information
you provide. Therefore,
submitting this information makes it public. You
may wish to read
the Privacy Act notice that is available on the DMS
Web site, or the
Department of Transportation Privacy Act Statement
that a ppeared in
the Federal Register on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477).
You may view
docket submissions at the Docket Management Facility
(see
ADDRESSES), or electronically on the DMS Web
site.
Background
The Coast Guard has previously published
Federal Register documents
concerning regulation of incidental dry
cargo residue on the Great
Lakes: 69 FR 1994 (January 13, 2004), 69
FR 57711 (September 27, 2004),
69 FR 77147 (December 27, 2004;
corrected at 70 FR 1400, January 7, 2005).
The historical practice of
bulk dry cargo vessels on the Great
Lakes is to wash non-hazardous
and non-toxic cargo residues (``dry
cargo residue'' or ``cargo
sweepings'') overboard. These non-hazardous
non-toxic discharges
eliminate unsafe conditions onboard the vessel,
without requiring
alternatives that could involve time delays or added
cost. Current
environmental statutes, if strictly enforced, would
prohibit these
incidental discharges. However, und er an ``interim
enforcement
policy'' (IEP) first adopted by the Coast Guard's Ninth
District in
1993, incidental discharges of dry cargo residue are
permitted in
defined portions of the Great Lakes. Congress has
authorized
continuation of the IEP until September 30, 2008, unless the
Coast
Guard acts sooner to replace the IEP with new regulations.
Dry cargo
residue on the Great Lakes generally includes, but is not
limited
to, limestone and other clean stone, iron ore such as taconite,
coal
and salt, and cement. The IEP applies only to such cargo residues,
and does not alter the strict prohibition of any discharge of oily
waste, untreated sewage, plastics, dunnage, or other things commonly
understood to be ``garbage,'' from vessels on the Great Lakes. Nor
does
the IEP permit the discharge of any substance known to be toxic
or
hazardous, such as nickel, copper, zinc, or lead. The IEP permits
incidental dry cargo residue discharge s only in areas that are
relatively far from shore, and that meet depth restrictions and
other
restrictions near special protection areas.
Our December
27, 2004 Federal Register document (69 FR 77147;
corrected at 70 FR
1400, January 7, 2005) announced that we would
conduct a study of
current dry cargo residue discharge practices in the
Great Lakes,
and requested information from the public that could help
us conduct
that study. The study is now complete and is available for
public
review either electronically or at the Docket Management
Facility
(see ADDRESSES and Request for Comments).
Proposed Action and
Alternatives
The proposed action is to adopt the IEP as the basis
for permanent
regulations, adding new requirements for standardized
record-keeping by
vessels that discharge dry cargo residue. The
discharges that require
logging, the format for log entries, the
retention time of the logs,
and the physical location of the log
would be specified. The
alternatives to the proposed action
include:
? Allowing the IEP to terminate on September 30, 2008, after
which the Coast Guard would enforce all laws applicable to the
discharge of dry cargo residues into the Great Lakes. For the
purposes
of our environmental review this represents the
``no-action'' alternative;
? Adopting the IEP as the basis for
permanent regulations,
without significant change;
? Adopting the
IEP as the basis for permanent regulations,
possibly with
significant changes (other than record-keeping) designed
to reduce
the environmental impact. Possible changes would be specified
and
could include adoption of best management practices, quantity limits,
cargo type limits, or additional restrictions on discharge
locations;
? Developing a Coast Guard permit system for vessels
discharging incidental dry cargo residue; and
? Regulating
shoreside facilities to control or eliminate < BR>dry cargo
spillage during vessel loading or unloading.
Scoping
Process
The scoping process (40 CFR 1501.7) is an early and open
process
for determining the scope of issues to be addressed in an
EIS and for
identifying the significant issues related to the
proposed action. The
scoping process begins with publication of this
notice and ends when
the Coast Guard has completed the following
actions:
? Invites the participation of Federal, State, and local
agencies, any affected Indian tribe, the applicant, and other
interested persons;
? Determines the actions, alternatives, and
impacts
described in 40 CFR 1508.25;
? Identifies and eliminates
from detailed study those issues
that are not significant or that
are previously documented and can be
incorporated by reference;
?
Allocates responsibility for preparing EIS components;
[[Page
12211]]
? Indicates any related environmental assessments or
environment al impact statements that are not part of the EIS;
?
Identifies other relevant environmental review and
consultation
requirements;
? Indicates the relationship between timing of the
environmental review and other aspects of the application process;
and
? At its discretion, exercises the options provided in 40
CFR
1501.7(b).
The Coast Guard will publish a Federal Register Notice to
announce
a public meeting and will include the time, location, and
venue for the
meeting as part of the scoping process under NEPA for
this action. The
Coast Guard intends to announce these details after
gauging the level
of public interest in response to the current
notice. Once the scoping
process is complete, the Coast Guard will
prepare a draft EIS, and we
will publish a Federal Register notice
announcing its public
availability. If you wish to be mailed or
e-mailed the public meeting
notice or the draft EIS notice of
availability, please con tact the
person named in FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT. We will provide the
public with an opportunity
to review and comment on the draft EIS.
After the Coast Guard
considers those comments, we will prepare the
final EIS and
similarly announce its availability and issue a Record of
Decision
30 days later.
Dated: March 6, 2006.
Howard L. Hime,
Acting
Director of Standards, Assistant Commandant for Prevention.
[FR Doc.
06-2258 Filed 3-6-06; 4:25 pm]
BILLING CODE
4910-15-P
------------------------------------------
==========================================
Alex
J. Sagady & Associates http://www.sagady.com
Environmental
Enforcement, Permit/Technical Review, Public Policy,
Evidence Review
and Litigation Investigation on Air, Water and
Waste/Community
Environmental and Resource Protection
Prospectus at: http://www.sagady.com/sagady.pdf
657 Spartan Ave, East Lansing, MI 48823
(517) 332-6971; (51
7) 332-8987 (fax); ajs@sagady.com
==========================================
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
glin-announce is hosted by the Great Lakes
Information Network (GLIN):
http://www.great-lakes.net
To
subscribe: http://www.glin.net/forms/glin-announce_form.html
To
post a message: http://www.glin.net/forms/glin-announce_post.html
To
search the archive: http://www.glin.net/lists/glin-announce/
All
views and opinions presented above are solely those of the author
or
attributed source and do not necessarily reflect those of GLIN or
its
management.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Yahoo! Mail
Use
Photomail to share photos without annoying attachments.
--
David F. Reid, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist
Director, NOAA National Center for Research on Aquatic Invasive Species
Task Leader, GLERL Nonindigenous Species Program
Member, NOAA Invasive Species Program Management Team
U.S. Department of Commerce
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
2205 Commonwealth Blvd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48105-2945
Voice: 734-741-2019
FAX: 734-741-2055
GLERL home page:
http://www.glerl.noaa.gov*
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
glin-announce is hosted by the Great Lakes Information Network (GLIN):
http://www.great-lakes.net To subscribe:
http://www.glin.net/forms/glin-announce_form.html To post a message:
http://www.glin.net/forms/glin-announce_post.html To search the archive:
http://www.glin.net/lists/glin-announce/ All views and opinions presented
above are solely those of the author or attributed source and do not
necessarily reflect those of GLIN or its management. * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|